Galway-based company Revive Active wins Food and Drink Category at the SFA National Small Business Awards

Zoan Biomed (Galway) recognised among best Emerging New Businesses (less than two years)

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphries TD, presents awards to the best in small business

Revive Active from Galway has won the Food and Drink Category at the SFA National Small Business Awards 2018. Zoan Biomed was recognised among the best Emerging New Businesses (less than two years). Another Galway company, PolyPico Technologies was a finalist in the Exporter of the Year Category.

The overall award was won by Briody Bedding from Meath.

The aim of the awards is to celebrate the achievements of small business in Ireland, and to recognise the vital contribution of the small business sector to the Irish economy. The winners were selected from hundreds of applications received for the 2018 programme.

Revive Active is a Galway brand that formulates and markets high quality super supplements for the world market. From humble beginnings in 2011, Revive now has six products on the market selling through 1,000 retail outlets in Ireland and 50 in London. Through its online portal it has exported to 42 countries worldwide. In 2017 Revive Active was voted Number 1 VMS product (Vitamin, Mineral & Dietary Supplement) as well as listed 414th in the top 1,000 fastest growing companies in Europe by the London Financial Times.

Announcing the winner, Sue O’Neill, SFA Chair and Chair of the Awards Judging Panel, said: “Hailing from Tuam, Co. Galway with 22 employees, Revive Active is on a significant growth trajectory. Turnover at the end of 2017 surpassed €4m, way past expectations. A main contributor to this was the introduction of a newly designed website and e-commerce system. Well done to Daithí O’Connor and the team at Revive Active.”

Zoan BioMedLtd is a Galway based medical device start-up, specialising in bone healing and repair. The gold standard in orthopaedic trauma operations is autograft, use of which is in decline. This procedure requires a second operation, increasing the risk of infection, adding cost, and slowing healing times. Zoan has developed a natural bone replacement material, using tropical marine coral as the architects. The coral’s exoskeleton and interconnected pore structure mirrors that of human bone.

Minister for Business, Enterprise and Innovation, Heather Humphries TD, who presented the Awards stated: ““Ireland has a strong history of entrepreneurship and, without a doubt, this year’s nominees personify the strength of resilience and character that makes up our small business sector. Given their level of enthusiasm and determination, I have no doubt that each of these businesses have a very bright future ahead of them. The Government is committed to supporting the sector in every way it can with a particular focus on the context of Brexit. We provide a suite of supports to businesses, including through our enterprise agencies and, at the end of March, I will open a €300m Brexit Loan Scheme in partnership with Minister Michael Creed, the EIB, the European Commission and the SBCI.”

The seven category winners are:

Manufacturing: Briody Bedding (Meath)

Food & Drink: Revive Active (Galway)

Services: Irish Tax Rebates (Kildare)

Highly commended: Kerona Scientific (Dublin)

Outstanding Small Business (up to 5 employees): TheTaste.ie (Dublin)

Highly commended: Mezzo Music Academy (Dublin)

Innovator of the Year: Aalto Bio Reagents (Dublin)

Sustainable Energy: Courtown Adventure and Leisure Centre (Wexford)

Highly commended: Starting Small Standing Tall (Limerick)

Exporter of the Year: Good4U (Sligo)

This is the fourteenth year of the SFA National Small Business Awards, an initiative of the Small Firms Association.

The award categories are sponsored by AIB, Bord Bia, DHL, Energia, Enterprise Ireland, the Sustainable Energy Authority of Ireland and Three. The Emerging New Business section is sponsored by IE Domain Registry. Skillnets is the management development partner.

Speaking at the Awards Gala Ceremony, Sue O’Neill said “In our growing economy the companies we are recognising with these awards are doing well. They are creating employment. Evident amongst them is a strategic approach to diversification in order to combat the immediate and potential future effects of Brexit. Small businesses contributed to the recovery of our economy by making difficult decisions in times of recession. They are proving yet again their resilience and flexibility when faced with new challenges.”